PART THREE

SHORT SYNTAX

VII. ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

§§0845-881

Lesson 58: Adverbial Clauses/The Circumstantial Participle

THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL (ADVERBIAL) PARTICIPLE

0845. The range of participial function is sketched in
§770. Of the three principal functions of the participle, the
attributive use was considered in §§771-779, under the
heading, the attributive participle in nominal word clusters, while
the supplementary participle was presented in the
treatment of verb chains, §§565-576, 580-585 (note especially
§§568, 571f., 584, 585). The third principal function,
circumstantial or adverbial, remains to be considered.

845. The circumstantial participle indicates the
circumstances under which the action of the main verb takes place.
It thus modifies the verb and so is adverbial. It may be the
equivalent of an adverbial clause denoting time, cause, means,
manner, purpose, condition, concession or attendant
circumstance(s). These ideas are not, of course, expressed by the
participle itself (except for the future participle, §846.5) but
must be inferred from the context. The circumstantial participle
may be illustrated from English in a limited way:

(i)

They died fighting (manner)

(ii)

They fled by crossing the river (means)

(iii)

Although hearing, they did not understand
(concession)

(iv)

The students prepared their lessons, the teacher
assisting (attendant circumstance)

Words like by in (ii) and
although in (iii) help make the nuance of the participle
clear in English. Such helping words, although not unknown in
Greek, are less often employed. The Greek circumstantial participle
is therefore a less precise form of expression than corresponding
subordinate clauses of time, condition, concession, etc. When
translating from Greek to English, it is often best to translate a
participle with a participle where possible and thus preserve the
ambiguity of the Greek participle. For example,

(v)

They were baptized, confessing their sins

may be a close approximation of a
circumstantial participle in Greek, whereas

(vi)

After confessing their sins, they were baptized

(vii)

Because they confessed their sins, they were
baptized

are more precise and thus interpretive.

845.1 The circumstantial participle refers to a noun
(pronoun) in the same sentence and is in agreement with it (gender,
number, case), or it is used absolutely. The absolute
circumstantial participle, i.e. having no grammatical connection
with the rest of the sentence, normally stands in the genitive case
along with its subject, if expressed (genitive absolute, §847).

845.2 The 'tenses' of participles do not, strictly
speaking, represent time but denote only aspect
(Aktionsart, §§309f.). The temporal relation of the
participle to the main verb is derived from the context. Since,
however, the action expressed by the circumstantial participle
customarily precedes that represented by the main verb, the aorist
participle came to be associated to a certain degree with relative
past time. Yet the aorist participle may express present and even
future time (Bl-D §339(1)) relative to the main verb. The present
participle, likewise, may be used for a variety of times relative
to the main verb. Only in the case of the future participle is
there a temporal nuance (used to express purpose, §846.5). It is
appropriate to hold only the aspect of the various tenses of the
participle in view in interpreting the circumstantial participle,
unless there is specific indication to the contrary. Bl-D §339.

845.3 The circumstantial participle may take any of
the complements the corresponding verb may take, e.g. subject,
object or objects, etc.

845.4 In contrast to the attributive participle (§774,
cf. §716), the circumstantial participle is regularly anarthrous,
i.e. it is not preceded by the article. The supplementary
participle is also anarthrous, of course (references in §0845).

846.The circumstantial participle as the
equivalent of an adverbial clause may be taken (i.e. inferred
from the context) to denote time, cause, means, manner, purpose,
condition, concession, or attendant circumstance. Distinctions
between and among these nuances are sometimes difficult to make in
practice, in the absence of helping particles. The circumstantial
participle most often denotes the manner in which an action takes
place or what precedes and what accompanies it (Bl-D §418). The
preponderant usage is thus a more or less vague descriptive
function. A temporal clause in English often represents this lack
of precision:

(viii)

He said these things while giving a lecture

Nevertheless, in some cases the context affords
clues to a more precise interpretation of the participle.

846.1 The circumstantial participle may function as a
temporal clause:

For this construction, two finite verbs
connected by καί would serve equally well, since the participle of
attendant circumstance does not specify the relation between the
action of the main verb and the attendant circumstance.

8460.Agreement. The circumstantial
participle may refer to a noun (pronoun) elsewhere in the sentence.
If so, it should agree with its referent in gender, number, and
case (§845). In examples (1)-(9) and (11)-(13), §846, with one
exception, the circumstantial participle refers to the subject of
the sentence and so stands in the nominative case. Gender and
number vary in accordance with the antecedent. In (8), §846.5, the
subject of the action represented by the participle is the object
of the main verb and so stands in the accusative case. The
participle agrees in case (as well as gender and number).

Circumstantial participles most often refer to the subject of
the main verb and so take the nominative case. As (8) indicates,
they may refer to some other element in the sentence in another
case. The antecedent may be in the dative case:

(14)

καὶ ἐμβάντι αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ πλοῖον,
ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ

Mt 8:23

And when he got into the boat,
his disciples followed him

Another example with the antecedent in the
accusative case:

(15)

ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς πλοῖον ἐμβάντα
καθῆσθαι, ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ

Mk 4:1

so that he, getting into a boat, sat
[in it] on the sea

In (15), ὥστε is followed by an infinitive of
result, καθῆσθαι (§834).

847.Genitive absolute. If the circumstantial
participle does not refer to a noun (pronoun) elsewhere in the
sentence, it is put in the genitive case, together with its
complements, and called a genitive absolute (§845.1). It is called
an absolute construction because it has no formal grammatical
connection with the rest of the sentence. In English compare,

(ix)

The professor having finished his lecture, the
students
departed

(x)

The passage having been translated, he closed his
book

where the participle and its subject are
grammatically independent of the main clause.

The genitive absolute functions as any other circumstantial
participle; it therefore has the range indicated in §846, which
need only be illustrated here:

(16)

καὶ ἐκβληθέντος τοῦ δαιμονίου,
ἐλάλησεν ὁ κωφός

Mt 9:33

And the demon having been cast out,
(= And when the demon had been cast out, )
the dumb man spoke

(17)

πάλιν ἀνακάμψω πρὸς ὑμάς,
τοῦ θεοῦ θέλοντας

Acts 18:21

I will return to you,
God willing (= if God wills)

(18)

οὐ ψεύδομαι,
συμμαρτυρούσης μοι τῆς συνειδήσεώς μου

Rom 9:1

I do not lie,
my conscience bearing witness with me
(= since my conscience bears witness with me)

8470. The rule that the genitive absolute can be
employed only when its referent does not appear in the
main clause is sometimes broken. It is found

His mother Mary having been betrothed to
Joseph,
before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant

Cf. Bl-D §423.

8471.Nominative absolute. Not to be confused
with the circumstantial participle, particularly the genitive
absolute, is the nominative absolute or hanging nominative with a
participle. The real but not the grammatical subject of the
sentence is introduced in the nominative case, but the referent of
the participle appears in another case in the main clause:

He who believes in me, ...
out of his belly shall rivers of living water flow

Cf. Rev 2:26 and Bl-D §466(4).

848.The circumstantial participle with verbs of
saying is often redundant from the perspective of English
usage. A finite verb meaning ask, answer, bear witness,
etc. is often followed by λέγων, which is loosely a circumstantial
participle of manner:

(23)

ἐλάλησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων ...

Jn 8:12

Jesus spoke, saying ...

(24)

καὶ ἐμαρτύρησεν Ἰωάννης λέγων ...

Jn 1:32

And John bore witness, saying ...

This participle usually introduces direct
discourse. Cf. Bl-D §420.

849.Present and aorist participles: 'tense.
' The tenses of the participle do not, strictly speaking,
represent time. The temporal element is derived from the relation
of the participle to the main verb (§846.2).

849.1 Since the action represented by the participle
customarily precedes that of the main verb, the aorist participle
most often indicates past time relative to the main verb.

849.11 Examples of an aorist participle representing
time antecedent to a main verb in the aorist tense may be found in
§846 (1), §8460 (14), (15), §847 (16).

849.2 The aorist participle may also represent an
action that is concurrent with that of the main verb:

(27)

καὶ προσευξάμενοι εἶπαν, ...

Acts 1:24

And praying they said, ...

Bl-D §339 (1).

849.3 The present participle usually represents action
in progress at the same time as the action of the main verb. The
simultaneous participial action may thus be in the past, present,
or future, depending on the tense of the main verb. Examples of a
present participle correlated with an aorist tense are (2) and (13)
in §846; (3) exhibits a present participle linked to an imperfect
(cf. Lk 6:1). For a present participle representing action
concurrent with a present tense, see (18) in §847 and compare Jn
5:44. Example (17) in §847 shows a present participle correlated
with a future tense.

849.4 The present participle may occasionally
represent an action that is temporally prior to the action of the
main verb. In such instances the present participle represents the
imperfect tense.

(28)

πωλοῦντες ἔφερον τὰς τιμὰς
τῶν πιπρασκομένων

Acts 4:34

And when they had sold [the goods],
they brought the proceeds of what had been sold

Bl-D §339(3).

849.5 The present participle may also represent an
action that is subsequent to the action of the main verb: